Summary of “Skinny Love: Why Players Across the NBA Are Slimming Down”

As the NBA shifts more and more toward speed and shooting over size and back-to-the-basket post-ups, players are changing their bodies to keep pace. Abunassar, who has worked with the likes of Kevin Garnett, Kristaps Porzingis, and Kyle Lowry at his Las Vegas-based training facility, has seen more and more players willing to prioritize lean muscle and strength over bulk and size. At NBA media days across the league, veteran NBA players showed up sporting slimmed-down physiques. When they do cut weight, more often than not NBA players are showing it off on their popular social media streams. With defenses switching more and more on screens, thus forcing players to match up with a wider range of positions and sizes, power forwards and centers are starting to slim-fit their offseason regimens. That’s because you can find more and more NBA players doing nontraditional exercise classes such as yoga and cycling, or stepping into a squared ring. Along with photos of Chris Paul and LeBron James putting in work in the weight room, a scroll through NBA Instagram also turns up Rudy Gobert and Shabazz Napier in the boxing ring or players at a pilates or yoga class. Every offseason, Lang Whitaker and his high school friend Matt Colwell noticed the same reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of basketball players getting more muscular.